


Quiet

by MayaTheGreatish



Category: Warrior Nun (TV)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, Mild Catholicism, Nuns, Post-Canon Fix-It, Post-Season/Series 01 Finale, Sharing a Bed, ava doesn’t know about heterosexuality, really don’t know what to tag here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:09:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25102951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MayaTheGreatish/pseuds/MayaTheGreatish
Summary: After the incident at the Vatican, the Order of the Cruciform Sword finds a place from which to regroup. In the process, Ava and Beatrice find the truth.Shameless post-s1 canon fix-it.
Relationships: Ava Silva/Sister Beatrice
Comments: 25
Kudos: 977





	Quiet

**Author's Note:**

> This show killed me dead instantly. Gay nun rights!
> 
> To be clear: SPOILERS AHEAD. This is my post canon fix-it after binging the series and realizing that if I wanted any continuation for a series that’s still in it’s debut week, I gotta write it myself (after reading what had already been posted, y’all are braver than any US marine, god bless).
> 
> Just let them be soft... their lives are so hard... *weeps*

The incident in the Vatican courtyard wound up brief indeed. 

While Mary drew the wraith-possessed crowd in, Lilith began to growl. It was a low sound, almost subsonic, and her eyes glowed with the same fire as before as her claws lengthened. Ava muttered some quip about teenaged werewolves, but the punchline was overtaken as Lilith’s growl grew louder and reverberated off the columns and stone. The noise of the crowd started to die as the possessed seemed to slow down as one, and Lilith stepped out of the fold of Sisters with her lip pulled far back over her lengthened canines in a snarl. 

The possessed bobbed toward her as if hypnotized, and Beatrice heard Mary’s muffled “What the fuck?” from the pile of demons that had been ostensibly trying to eat her; Beatrice found room in her mind for a moment of dizzy relief that she sounded unhurt, if very confused. The relief could only be brief, though, and the possessed sped up as one again like a swarm and scrambled horribly to meet Lilith and her challenge.

“Wait!” Beatrice couldn’t look away from the demons physically climbing over each other to get to Lilith, but she knows they both heard Camila. “They’re bystanders, the faithful!” Nothing about Lilith’s posture changed, but Beatrice could see the hesitation in her back (still her Sister) as Adriel’s cackle echoed from the balconies above them.

“That’s okay.” 

Now she did look away, and she saw Camila whirl to look at Ava with wide eyes too. Ava wore her cocky smirk, like she knew anything at all, but the confidence didn’t quite reach her eyes. She looked up at both of them and gave her smile more teeth anyway, forcing more bravado. “It’ll be fine,” she said, but she wasn’t a good liar and Beatrice was ready to tell her so. Ava shrugged around them before she could, slippery thing, and the Halo in her back began to glow as she came up beside Lilith and laid a hand on her arm. Beatrice couldn’t hear, but she could see Ava tilt a smile up at Lilith and quietly ask “trust me?” like this was a camp high dive or something. 

It worked anyway, apparently. In one move, Lilith ducked behind her as Ava leapt forward into the wall of roiling bodies, glowing sword held aloft. She yelled something unintelligible as the demons reared back to attack and drove her sword suddenly into the ground with all her might. A burst of light flared from her Halo, framing her like wings, and a wider explosion of light, sound, and force radiated from where she knelt over her sword in the ground. Beatrice felt Camila grab her wrist reflexively, and her own instincts had her drag her into her embrace and raise her other arm to try to shield them both from—

A gentle but powerful wind rushed over them, bringing with it a tingling rush Beatrice could only equate with the feel of static electricity times a thousand. The demons rocked back in a wave with a single roar before Ava’s attack, sending bodies scattered to the ground but not far. With another savage cry, Ava slashed at the air around her (wildly, Beatrice distantly thought, and with almost zero finesse) as the demonic cries faded into the ether. The bodies began to sit up, all separate and disoriented, and weep. Ava was looking at the starry sky above her, shouting as she waved her sword, “Yeah, you better run! Run back to your Daddy, bitches!!!”

“Ava!” Beatrice’s own voice broke her out of her haze, and Ava twisted to look at her over her shoulder and over the sword she’d propped casually there. Ava smiled at her, and Beatrice forgot to breathe before admonishing “language” so it was a weak scolding. Ava smiled wider.

Mary chose that moment to gently push aside one of the sobbing figures at their feet, giving him a token squeeze of the shoulder that did seem to calm him a little. “Where’s Adriel?” That she was also asking where she could get her hands on Father Vincent didn’t need saying.

“Gone,” Ava said. “I can’t feel him nearby, and he definitely wasn’t at full strength.” She began to slump a little, the sword sliding carelessly from her shoulder to support her like an old cane. “He just needed to get away.”

Mary nodded. “Then so do we.” 

There wasn’t much more room for thought from there. As the team they’d always been, they disengaged from the distressed and distracted crowd and found the parking lot underground. Ava was clearly tiring with every step, so Beatrice slung an arm around her waist and Ava’s arm over her own shoulder. Ava looked up at her, but stayed unusually quiet; instead, she blessed her with a small, soft smile, and Beatrice wondered if that wasn’t worse when she smiled briefly back and then focused on their path with wide eyes. Then Camila found a van with an unlocked door, and they were on their way.

In the back of the van, Beatrice could be all business. “Now what?”

Ava snorted like that was funny, but Mary was ready to be a grown-up. “Now we figure out where we’re going.”

“For starters, we’re heading out of the city,” Camila piped up from the driver’s seat. 

“The diocese will be looking for us,” Mary said. “I can’t imagine Duretti doesn’t know who caused an explosion in the Necropolis, and I can’t imagine he’s happy with them about it.” She rolled her eyes, hard. “And he’s the _pope_ now, so.”

“Is this why you drink, Shotgun Mary?” Ava asked unhelpfully.

“Maybe,” Mary bit out, narrowing her eyes at her. “And what the fuck was that back there, with that exorcism explosion? How exactly did you know how to do that?”

“That’s not what an exorcism is at all,” Lilith said from the passenger seat, but that wasn’t the point so Beatrice looked at Ava, too.

Ava blinked those great big brown eyes at them and suddenly looked sheepish. She smiled anyway. “Uh well,” she said, “I wasn’t sure it would work at all. I was really just uh, trying something.” Mary and Beatrice kept looking, so she scratched at the back of her neck and tried to fill the silence, “It was just something I saw, that’s all! And there were so many of them, I thought ‘fuck it,’ right, like we couldn’t have saved them all and gotten away, no way, and frankly we just didn’t have the time, I thought. Like literally, who has the time to fight every person who showed up to greet the new pope, I mean come on! So I just—“ She gestured, then huffed, then asked, “Okay, have you seen She-Ra?”

Beatrice had not, and did not see what it could possibly have to do with— “Are you fucking _joking_?” Mary had a frame of reference, apparently, and her voice had gone a little high.

Ava chuckled, somehow even more sheepish. “For once, not even a little. Hah.” Beatrice still did not get it, but now Ava was smirking at Mary with those sparkles in her eyes. “You watched She-Ra! The new one, on Netflix? You get Netflix at the Cat’s Cradle?”

Mary dismissed her with a wave. “I’ve seen a few episodes, and it was both reckless and stupid to base a battle technique off a goddamned children’s cartoon.”

“A children’s cartoon you’ve seen enough of to get where I got it,” Ava muttered, not even trying to be quiet about her amusement as she tried to include Beatrice in the joke.

Beatrice had still not seen the show, and didn’t feel that included. “Ava, a _cartoon_?!”

“Okay well! It worked, didn’t it!” Ava crossed her arms over her chest and pouted like a child. Which made Beatrice think...

“Childlike faith,” she pronounced. “Of course you needed a gesture like that to channel the Halo’s power in such a way.” She turned to Mary, who looked back thoughtfully. “The pure faith of a child that there’s no reason a move like that won’t work.”

Mary nodded slowly. “Like a superhero. Maybe that’s why you’re like this,” she said to Ava.

Arms still crossed, Ava scowled. “Rudest superhero pep talk ever.”

Now Beatrice knows what she forgot. “No, Ava, you did very well!” She rushed to take her hand, but settled for patting her wrist at the last second and retreating. “We’re very impressed, just surprised. It’s a good thing you were able to tap into the Halo like that, and it’s further proof that it could’ve only been you!”

She stopped, and looked up to see Ava looking at her with wide, stupid-shiny eyes, her full lips softly parted in surprise. Beatrice froze a little. Ava blinked a few times, then gave her a shaky smile as her hands dropped softly into her lap. “Okay. Thanks,” she said to them.

“I’m not that impressed,” Mary cut in, and Beatrice didn’t jump but Ava did. Mary was watching them both with shrewd eyes, but she had mercy and said to Camila “Let’s head north, when you hit an exit. They’ll be expecting us to catch a boat or a flight.”

“I have a friend,” Lilith surprised everyone by saying, “in Verona. I think we can go to her.”

There was quiet, and Mary pressed “You think?”

Lilith glanced back though her hair, fading back to black. “I know.”

With Lilith directing Camila, the rest of the ride was uneventful. Ava raptly watched the scenery pass from the rear window; Beatrice didn’t have the heart to tell her to come away from where she might be seen, not after Ava had told her of all the life she’d missed in that bed. Instead, she watched her watching the world, finding what joy she could in Ava’s joy.

Until she noticed (way too late) Mary and Lilith watching her stare at Ava, and pretended to watch the scenery too.

It was late when they turned into a small vineyard. Under Lilith’s guidance, they found the country house at its heart, and not for the first time Beatrice wondered what kind of welcome was in store for them. Lilith showed no such hesitation, though, hopping right out of the car and knocking on the front door without much preamble. She gave it some volume too, given the hour, but Beatrice focused on helping still-shaky Ava out of the van. “I've definitely had worse,” she joked quietly, but she still took Beatrice’s offered hand and let Camila take her other arm, too. Camila let go once Ava’s boots were safely on the ground, giving her one of her warm smiles and a shoulder squeeze, but Ava was still leaning on Beatrice’s hand so heavily that Beatrice couldn’t take it back.

She forgot about that when the front door opened. They all looked up to see a woman with long dark hair standing in the doorway, staring with wide eyes. Lilith said something quiet to her, and she yelled “LILITH?” Ava snorted, and Beatrice squeezed her hand for it (reproachfully). “Lilith?” the woman repeated, softer. She reached out, touched Lilith’s face, and tears sprang into her eyes. “Holy _fuck_ , Lilith,” she exclaimed as a big smile split her face.

“Language,” Lilith said, apparently a reflex.

“You nuns are all the same,” Ava told Beatrice, nudging at her. Beatrice rolled her eyes, and Ava smiled.

The woman smiled too, through her tears, and said “Well, come in!” She waved them all in. “You’re not here for a social call no matter how happy I am to see you _alive_.” This was to Lilith, who shifted on her feet a little as the other Sisters moved past her into the house. “And alive you are?”

It wasn’t an unfair question, and Lilith said “So it would seem.”

That seemed to be enough, because the woman turned to address them all. “I’m Lilith’s cousin Rachel. I can see you’re all Sisters of Lilith and her Order, and that’s enough for me for tonight. Let’s get you settled, and you can tell me what I need to know in the morning after we eat.”

She stood as if waiting for questions or concerns, but her solution was good enough for Beatrice and she got tired, blank stares. Mary only felt the need to add, “Thank you.” Rachel smiled brilliantly, and herded them upstairs without more ado.

Somehow, Beatrice ended up sharing a room with Ava. She would have thought it was funny if she were a whole different person. As it was, she sent up prayers for patience and restraint as Ava flopped face first on the only bed and groaned. Not funny at all.

“How are your injuries?” she asked, needing something to focus on.

Wrong thing to focus on, Beatrice supposes moments later after Ava’s nose wrinkles at the question and she begins stripping off layers to find out the answer. She stared defensively at the ceiling while Ava got down to her undershirt and her trousers, boots and armor all gone, and only looked back when Ava hissed in pain. She was sitting in the center of the bed, tenderly poking a bruise that had essentially taken over the underside of her right arm and frowning at it. Beatrice forgot her awkwardness and sat beside her, gently taking her arm and taking over inspection. Ava didn’t complain, was oddly quiet again, so Beatrice tried to be quick about checking Ava for more injuries. Nothing seemed broken, and none of her cuts were big enough to warrant stitches, but her body was mostly bruises from being thrown around. Hopefully she’d be as good as new in the morning, but Beatrice didn’t feel as sure of the Halo’s healing factor now that it’s original owner was out and about. She moved to get up, but Ava’s hand stopped her. “Where are you going?” Ava said.

Beatrice gestured at the ajar door: the en-suite. “I’m going to find you some aspirin.”

“Oh.” Ava’s hand dropped into her lap, and she chuckled uncomfortably, drawing her legs in closer to herself. “Right. Okay.” 

“Be right back,” Beatrice reassured her, but she only got a weak half-smile for it. She hurried her search of the bathroom a little, but luckily the ibuprofen was in the second place she checked. She found a glass, too, and filled it with cold tap water to bring with the pill bottle. Ava looked tiny in the middle of the bed, practically in a ball, but her face lifted slightly when Beatrice came back. “Let’s start with two and see how you feel.” Ava nodded, and took them without fuss when Beatrice doled them out. She was still quiet when she passed the glass back, and Beatrice had to say, “You’re quiet.”

Ava’s eye’s closed. “I’m _tired_ ,” she said. She flopped over onto her side and added, “I used up all my snark, I have to recharge.”

Beatrice smiled. “Not all.” 

Ava smiled too, her eyes drifting open to find Beatrice’s. “You‘ll sleep with me, right?” Beatrice takes a few seconds to replay that internally, to make it make sense. “Like, you’ll share with me? I don’t wanna be alone, and I hate to think you’ll try to sleep on the floor or something else nun-like.”

“Nuns don’t sleep on the floor,” was all Beatrice had so far, but she was tired.

Ava’s big brown eyes closed again, and she turned her face to bury it in the pillow. “Diego and I used to sometimes, on tough days. It’s no big deal if you need your space or something—“

“No!” she said, too quick and too loud, but Ava still wasn’t looking at her and didn’t catch her wince. Just because her thoughts hadn't been the purest didn't mean that Ava was on the same train, particularly given how exhausted they both are. “No, it’s fine, we can share.” 

Ava peeked one eye out at her and gave her another uncertain smile. “Okay. Thanks.” She uncurled her body and reached for her trousers, and Beatrice whirled away.

Well, now what? There was nothing for it, so Beatrice got out of her battle habit and folded it up on a chair. She left on her short-sleeved undershirt and her underwear, and tried to remind herself that she went to all-girls boarding school for heaven’s sake. Also, she was an adult, and a Sister Warrior, and spoke a ton of languages. This was fine. She turned off the overhead light and came back to bed, where Ava was already curled under the blankets and watching her in the light of the bedside lamp. “Move over,” Beatrice said, and Ava wiggled to give her some room to climb in. She settled on her back, cleared her throat, and clicked out the bedside lamp, plunging them into darkness.

After a few moments of silence, Ava wiggled closer again, not quite touching. “Hey.” Beatrice turned her head, and she could just see Ava’s eyes in the moonlight. “Thanks for taking care of me today. You didn’t have to.”

Beatrice blinked, then smiled at her. “Of course. I wanted to.”

Ava’s eyes widened, her mouth dropping open in surprise. It was a good look on her, like most things. “Wow,” she sighed, “so fucking pretty.”

Huh? “Huh?”

Ava’s mouth clicked shut, like she could snap it closed around the words quickly enough. “Uh. You. Just.” She squirmed, her head receding under the covers a little. “Sorry. I’m not trying to make you uncomfortable, I’m just so tired I don’t have a filter right now. You can totally ignore me.”

But... 

“Not that I didn’t mean it,” Ava chattered, clearly nervous, “because you are, obviously, I mean I have eyes, right? So like, it’s more of a back of the mind thing, I know you got vows and hell, what would you want with someone like me who’s never done anything anywhere _anyway_ , but it’s just been such a long day and you don’t smile all that much and regardless it’s not like there’s an appropriate time to hit on a nun so—“

“You wanted to hit on me?” Beatrice felt like she was still catching up.

Ava buried her face in the pillow again. “It’s fine, I wasn’t gonna! I’m just tired, can we sleep and never talk about this again?”

“No.” Ava groaned into the pillow. “I mean, I want to talk about it sometime. Maybe not right now, but.” Ava lifted her head, her hair catching the moonlight, and Beatrice forged on as heat rose to her cheeks.“You’re very pretty, too,” she got out.

Ava was staring again, and Beatrice was going to have an aneurysm or something. “But, your vows?” she whispered, as if someone might be listening.

Beatrice shrugged. “I set off a bomb in Vatican City during the Conclave. Not sure what kind of a nun I am anymore.” She said more quietly, “I only want to serve God.”

Ava nodded like she understood. “Not men,” she said.

Maybe she understood after all. “Not men,” Beatrice agreed, and that was what this boiled down to. The institution she’d given her youth was nothing more than a collection of men trying to destroy other men, and all lying for it. There was no God to be found in the Church for her now, only Duretti and Adriel as opposite sides of a worthless coin. At least, until it could be remade. But there were no men here, and the only way she could think to serve God right now was by being what she was.

As if she’d read her mind, Ava suddenly asked, “Can I kiss you?” For a second, Beatrice wondered if she had some telepathic powers they hadn't examined yet, and the hesitation was enough time for Ava to frown and start “Sorry, I’m not...”

That wouldn’t do, so Beatrice stopped thinking and tilted Ava’s face up to hers. Ava’s lips were as soft as she’d briefly imagined, and after a moment of surprise Ava sighed and pressed close, kissing her back. It was the easiest thing she’d ever done to wrap her free arm around Ava’s waist and stroke her face, easy to pull her closer. Ava’s hand came up to slide into her hair, and Beatrice was surprised at how good it felt. They felt good together.

Ava’s lips strayed to Beatrice’s cheek, her jaw. Beatrice curled closer to her and felt Ava wiggle an arm under her back, pressing their bodies flush together. As exciting as this was, it had been a long day indeed, and Beatrice found she couldn’t move much further when she was this comfortable holding Ava. Ava pressed another kiss to Beatrice’s neck and then buried her face there, sighing deeply. “Tired,” she mumbled into her skin.

Beatrice sleepily nodded and tucked her chin over Ava’s head, nestling them more closely together. “Yeah,” she said. “Sleep. We can talk more later.” She felt Ava smile against her skin as the arm around her back squeezed, and knew nothing else.

**Author's Note:**

> I ain’t written fic in *takes drag* ages now, but here we freaking are in the year of our linguine 2020 and some quasi-catholic sapphics who are doing their best have reawakened my need to fix canon. Starting with that cliffhanger battle... 
> 
> Like. I’m not sorry, but it made no sense for Shotgun Mary to be the one to wade into the demon melee. It just doesn’t track, she’s probably the least equipped for that.
> 
> If you wanna yell about Warrior Nun, I’m at [millennihilist](https://millennihilist.tumblr.com/) and I stay yelling.


End file.
